Teaching Successfully:
True or False
True or False
Teaching critical thinking will ultimately harm our youth.
False. Teaching students to think critically will encourage our youth to become "engaged democratic citizens"
-independent
-observational
-creative
-etc.
Your students want to talk about the controversies of the Vietnam War, something that you were advised to refrain from. Your students are showing great interest in the topic. Do you shut them down and ignore their request, or do you inform them of the controversies and why the topic is discouraged to be discussed in the school?
Inform your students of why this topic is greatly discouraged in their school. Informing them of this knowledge can engage them in various ways.
Engaged/To be Engaged
To participate or to be involved.
What is 1 quality of a good citizen?
-Helping those in need
-Recycling
-Honesty
-Being an active member of the community
-Acting to solve social problems
-etc.
Participatory Citizens: The Madison County Youth Service League
Good. The teachers of the Youth Service League ultimately
-"teach students how government works"
-"helps students recognize the importance of being actively involved in community issues"
-"Provides students with the skills required for effective and informed civic involvement"
Students should not be taught about public decision-making.
False. Students whom live in a democracy must be taught about public decision-making so that they can learn how democracies properly function.
Your state is threatening to pull school funding due to a school-wide walk out concerning gun laws that was organized by students, but influenced by your teaching. Your school's administration is asking you to either apologize and declare that you negatively influenced the student body, or resign from your position. What do you believe is the best decision that will positively impact your students ability to become successful citizens?
The best decision is to resign.
-Resigning will encourage your students to continue being vocal concerning historical and contemporary issues
-Resigning will impact your students' perspectives of society and their educational systems
-etc.
Educator
-Responsible for teaching youth and contributing to their learning
-One who provides intellectual, moral, and social instruction.
-Teaches youth to become successful citizens within society.
What is 1 quality of a bad citizen?
-Not caring about others
-Not caring about others beliefs
-Not respecting others
-Damages the community or society
Justice-Oriented Citizens: Bayside Students for Justice
Good. The teachers f the Bayside Students for Justice aid in
-sensitizing "students to the diverse needs and perspectives of fellow citizens
-teaching "students to recognize injustice and critically assess root causes of social problems"
-providing "students with an understanding of how to change established systems and structures"
Curricular approaches such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top "teaches students that broader critical thinking is optional."
True. These curricular approaches encourage a "single-minded drive to make students better test-takers, rather than better citizens."
Parents are complaining about gay rights being discussed within the school. You know that if these complaints endure, this can greatly affect the students perceptions of school and gay rights. What are the benefits of pushing forward and continuing to teach about gay rights?
-Pushing on can potentially teach the students about the importance of the gay rights movement
-Continuing to have these discussions after the complaints had been made can potentially teach the students about the many perspectives other people may have
-Pushing on can potentially aid in the students' attitudes towards school
Citizenship
A participatory member of a political community.
Personally Responsible Citizen
-"Acts responsibly in the community"
-"Works and pays taxes"
-"Helps those in need, lends a hand during times of crisis"
-"Obeys laws"
"We're teaching students to rescue, clothe, and feed the babies, but not to seek ways to prevent them from ending up in the river in the first place."
Bad. Although teaching our youth the importance of helping others is vital, educating our students about government and politics is essential to teach them how to prevent issues from occurring.
Teachers have been fired or suspended for teaching their students to critically analyze news or textbooks.
True. "In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," schools, districts, states, and the federal government had began implementing policies that would "restrict the critical analysis of historical and contemporary events in the school curriculum."
Your teachings of historical injustices against Black people have outraged your students. After this you have realized that certain students were "quick to criticize a kind of racism that was already widely relived in the United States and elsewhere," while failing to refrain from being racist themselves. Do you continue to teach about the injustices against Black people throughout history? How do you do so?
Yes. As educators it is our job to construct lessons that will successfully impact our students understandings of discrimination and prejudice.
-Relate the curriculum to the students' everyday lives
-Incorporate historical opinions
-Encourage new interpretations
-etc.
Critical Thinking
To objectively analyze and evaluate information
Participatory Citizen
-"Active member of community organizations and/or improvement efforts"
-"Organizes community efforts to care for those in need, promote economic development, or clean up environment"
-"Knows how government agencies work"
-"Knows strategies for accomplishing collective tasks"
"In June 2006, the Florida Education Omnibus Bill included language specifying that 'the history of the United States shall be taught as genuine history... American history shall be viewed as factual not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable'."
Bad. American history should be taught from an objective perspective, in which the students are able to develop their own ideologies regarding American history.
"Schools in a democratic nation can better prepare students to be democratic citizens by encouraging deference to authority and discouraging lessons about social movements and social change."
False. This is the irony of many schoolboards, particularly Jefferson County as mention by Westheimer. As educators we can better prepare our students to become democratic citizens by encouraging them to be respectful, but not submissive. Lessons about social movements and social change unquestionably aids in the successfulness of our students.
Your school has implemented policies that refrain you from critically analyzing historical and contemporary events. You finally began getting through to your students, as you noticed many had become active participants within society. The students are organizing "peace clubs," and are wearing anti-war apparel. Do you continue to have these discussions or do you abide to the policies?
Continue! By incorporating critical thinking you have encouraged your students to creatively engage in social issues. Although their actions may have obstructed the school's environment, your teachings have taught your students that they can ultimately make a difference through their actions.
Standardization
-The process of making something conform to a standard.
-Bring into conformity with a standard.
Social Justice-Oriented Citizen
-"Critically assess social, political, and economic structures"
-"Explores strategies for change that address root causes of problems"
-"Knows about social movements and how to effect systemic change"
-"Seeks out and addresses areas of injustice"
Students' knowledge of problems concerning "the market and its historical development," and "the history of labor problems; movements for the increase of cooperation between capital and labor; problems of wages, hours, living conditions."
Good. This curriculum will encourage the students to analyze "major institutions and social issues so that social problems, causes, and ways to respond" can be identified by the students.